Researchers at MIT hope to address the difficulties of transdermal drug delivery through a new wearable patch. The MIT team sees the skin as an appealing route for drug delivery. It enables the drugs to travel directly to the necessary site, which offers benefits in wound care, pain relief and more. However, the tough outer […]
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
This robotic capsule could deliver large-protein drugs like insulin
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) developed a new drug capsule with a robotic cap for improved drug delivery. Large-protein drugs generally can’t pass through the mucus barrier that lines the digestive tract. Insulin and most other “biologic drugs” with proteins or nucleic acids thus must be injected or administered in a hospital, […]
MIT researchers think microparticles could deliver ‘self-boosting’ vaccines
MIT researchers are touting microparticles that can deliver payloads at different points, potentially creating “self-boosting” vaccines. A new study, highlighted on the institute’s news website, demonstrates a way in which researchers could design vaccines that would need to be given just once before they “self-boost,” or essentially re-deliver the therapeutic, at a specified point in […]
MIT researchers study the best size for nanoparticles to stop internal bleeding
MIT researchers are examining how different-sized polymer nanoparticles circulate in the body, with a goal of treating traumatic injuries. Researchers are developing injectable nanoparticles that can attract cells to help stop the bleeding at the site of an internal injury until a patient can get to a hospital for treatment. To highlight the mechanism of […]
MIT researchers think they’ve found a way to get more particles through a syringe
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are touting a computational model that could prevent microparticle clogging during injections. Microparticles, which are about the size of a grain of sand, can be difficult to inject if they get clogged in a typical syringe. The research team at MIT developed this new model that determines […]
This coin-sized smart insulin patch could monitor glucose for diabetes management
Researchers at three universities have developed a smart insulin-delivery patch that has the potential to also monitor and manage glucose levels in people with diabetes. The adhesive patch was developed by a team of researchers and bioengineers from UCLA, the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is […]
Study: Researchers develop ingestible capsule for insulin delivery
A team of researchers from MIT developed an ingestible, blueberry-sized capsule that can deliver insulin orally. In animal models, the capsule lowered blood sugar levels and performed comparably with the traditional route of insulin delivery – injections. The capsule features a small needle made of freeze-dried, compressed insulin. The needle is attached to a compressed […]
Researchers design ingestible sensor for controlled drug release
Researchers from MIT, Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Draper have developed a Bluetooth-controlled ingestible capsule that can sense the temperature of its environment and reside in the stomach for at least a month. The device, which was tested in an animal study and composed of 3D-printed parts, is powered by a small silver oxide battery […]
Researchers use microparticles for targeted delivery of brain cancer therapy
A team of researchers from Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Mass. Institute of Technology and Mass. General Hospital demonstrated that localizing the delivery of NAMPT inhibitors can extend survival in a mouse model of glioma, according to a paper published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The scientists created a test to […]
Acorda’s CEO on failure, perseverance and the profound risks of drug development
Dr. Ron Cohen isn’t easily deterred. The physician-turned-executive has spent decades in the biotech industry and weathered a number of setbacks – he learned in his early years at the now-defunct Advanced Tissue Sciences that to succeed, he needed resilience. “I learned that it took hundreds of millions of dollars if not billions to develop […]
